What's it like out there?

Posted on Sat Jan 7th, 2023 @ 5:37am by Consul Andrinn Orin

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: USS Revere
Timeline: 2285
1121 words - 2.2 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Andrinn was standing on the Bridge of the USS Revere, a Constitution-Class starship that was refitted just a decade prior. He was watching the bridge coming to life as the viewscreen showed the starfield blurring past the ship, which meant the ship was traveling faster than light. It was a feat that Andrinn couldn’t have believed as a younger man.

Andrinn was a recent transfer onboard the Revere, serving as a Diplomatic Officer after taking the spot of one of their diplomats who had recently passed away during their last mission. Andrinn was excited for such an opportunity to serve on board a Constitution-Class starship, even though they were slowly becoming outdated for the period.

He just heard so much about the Constitution-Class starships, even before the Trill officially joined the United Federation of Planets. The adventures of the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain James T Kirk was iconic and would become something that all Starfleet cadets would learn about during their stint at the Academy.

After looking around for several moments and taking everything in, the commanding officer, Captain Theodore Ramses peered over his shoulder to see the younger looking officer. Rising from the center seat and walking over to Andrinn, Ramses extended his hand and said, “You must be our newest diplomat, Andrinn Orin? I’m Captain Theodore Ramses, commanding officer of the Revere and head of Task Force 17. I’m glad that you accepted the position when I offered it up to you. Commodore Reyes wasn’t going to let you up easily and I had to give up my best bottle of Romulan Ale to allow for the transfer to happen. Did you find your quarters onboard satisfactory?”

Andrinn extended his own hand out to shake Ramses’ hand, keeping quiet for a moment as he listened to the Captain speak. Andrinn had learned from various people within his life to take a moment and actually live within the conversation, listening to everything that the other person had to say before you even thought up a response because everything that the people you were talking to had something important and stellar to say.

Slowly releasing the hand of Captain Ramses, Andrinn just smiled as he thought up a response. As he found his words again, Andrinn replied back in an equal tone to Ramses as he said, “Yeah, I found them rather easily with the help of one of the yeomen onboard. To be onboard a ship of such caliber, it was hard not to get lost and wander throughout the corridor. While it might just be a ship to you and the rest of the crew, sir, this is something that I’ve only read about in textbooks.”

Ramses started to smile and before long, it matched that of Andrinn’s own smile. Captain Ramses offered up a walk around the bridge as the two men talk, which was rather cramped, but offered them a moment to talk.

As they walked, Ramses said, “There’s a lot that this ship can offer you, especially more than what the textbooks can offer you. I know that you’ve been out in space for quite some time, but there’s something unique that each starship and its crew can offer you, which I’m hoping we can offer you as well. Your perspective is a reason why I wanted you onboard as well because I’ve heard you’re both part Trill and part El-Aurian, which means you’ve got the knowledge of so many worlds. I know that you’ve had a tough couple of years within Starfleet, but let me…let us show you that the universe isn’t such a bad place. There’s so much that we’ve got to offer to you, young man. Ready to see the universe?”

Andrinn just grinned ear to ear because he knew that Captain Ramses understood and did more than just the basic homework on Andrinn and his origin story. He shook his head and replied, “Yes, sir. I would love that. Where are we heading off to and if you don’t mind me asking, why was I asked onto the bridge? Besides for a lovely little chat?”

As the two men stopped, they were standing in front of a secondary console that had information about their current heading, which was bringing them close to the planet Vulcan. Captain Ramses got a bit closer and became a bit more hushed when he began talking again, as he replied to Andrinn’s query.

“Well, we’re taking a detour to a planet near the Vulcan homeworld and I was hoping that you’d be able to help us out with something. We’ve been having trouble with one of our colonies near Vulcan and there has been troubling reports about pirate activity nearby. I was hoping you could provide some insight into it and could help us mitigate the issues at hand. Could you get me a report by 1600 hours?” Ramses asked, tilting his head as though it would help Andrinn to say yes and get that report done sooner rather than later.

Andrinn simply nodded his head in the affirmative and replied, “Yeah, I can do that for you. It might take me a bit of researching because I haven’t been out here much since I was truly a young man, but I’m sure that I can figure out what’s going on and get you some sort of assessment about what’s going on in the region. Would you want to meet in my office and get a bite to eat as we discuss everything, especially since it’ll be around dinner time?”

Ramses nodded and said, “That would be absolutely perfect. But, let’s meet in the Captain’s galley and I’ll have them make you something special. Anything on the menu today that you’d like the chef to make for you?”

Andrinn had been hankering something he heard about and had while he was back at the academy called potato soup and thus, he replied, “How about some potato soup? I had it back at the academy and it was absolutely amazing with a side of something. You can tell the chef to surprise me.”

Ramses replied that he would get it set up for them and relieved Andrinn after a few more moments of talking, so that he could get his report done. But, as Andrinn was leaving the bridge, he looked back at the starfield on the viewscreen, allowing it to engulf him for a moment and for Andrinn to think, “What’s out there?”

OFF:

Consul Andrinn Orin
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Elysium